Lights go on as Santa reschedules

Festive revellers turned out in force for Westbury’s delayed Christmas lights switch-on, which had been postponed due to the previous week’s wet weather.

Although street events, originally set to precede the switch-on ceremony were cancelled, there were still children’s rides, mulled wine, tea, coffee, mince pies and Father Christmas for the crowds last Friday.

The winners of the Christmas card and fancy dress competitions were invited on stage to get their prizes and have a picture taken with Santa Claus.

The overall winner of the Christmas card competition was 10-year-old Olivia, whose design will be on the front of the mayor’s Christmas card.

Maya, five, Chloe, six, and Jamie, 11, won their respective age categories.

Deputy Mayor Mike Cuthbert-Murray said: “After the disappointment of last week’s cancellation, Westbury has rallied and come out in force.

“The crowds were excellent and it is nice to see so many people turn up, even though it was quite short notice.

“A lot of hard work has gone into the lights and it shows the spirit of Westbury, the fact that so many people have turned up to see the switch-on.

“Westbury is very family-orientated and that is clear when events like the lights switch-on take place. Christmas has officially started, now the lights are on.”

The winners of the fancy dress competition were Charlie, as a Christmas pudding, Amy, as a Christmas tree, and Kirsten, as a Christmas star.

There was also a special prize for three-year-old card winner Isobel, who helped turn on the lights.

Town Crier Sean Price said: “It’s great that Santa could re-arrange his schedule, so he could make it along for the lights switch-on.
“The bad weather was too difficult for him to get his sleigh through, so we had to postpone last week.
“But, luckily, he managed to make it this time around, after moving some things around.”
After the lights switch-on ceremony and the procession of Father Christmas through the centre of town, children were able to continue enjoying the
fairground rides until 9pm.
One of those in the crowd, Samantha Carter, 28, of Elm Grove, said: “We were planning on going last week, before it got postponed, but I’m glad it managed to go ahead, as the kids really enjoyed seeing the lights and Santa.”